It's April!

Somehow I lost track of March...and February. Whoops!

Let's take a look back at February and how I did with my goals.

• Write down good days, memories, and experiences.
• I've added some good memories into my jar. 
• Train for the Chicago Marathon.
• Training is going to be starting soon! I should look into this more.
• Drink more water.
• I had a lot of 0 oz of water this month. I gotta get better at this.
• Workout at least 3x a week.
• I did a lot of working out this month. We had a fitness challenge at work which did help. I ended in the top 5!
• Take a class at the gym at least 1x a week.
• I did great at this! I took at least one class a week, but mostly I did at least 2 classes a week. 
• Write in my 5-Year Journal.
• I've completed every day. Some days I might have filled out days I got caught up in my normal life and had to go back, but that's okay!
• Journal more.
• This wasn't great, but it's better than not at all. Got to keep working on this.
• Donate to a cause at least 1x a month.
• I donated to 3 causes and one cause twice. My work was also doing a 2:1 matching for the month of February so each charity got my donation plus 2x the donation amount. It was great.
• See new places.
• I didn't go anywhere special in February. There's still a lot of time left in the year to do this though!
• Read 40 books by the end of 2017.
• I read 3 books in February. This brought my total at the end of February to 9!

How about March? How did I do for March?

• Write down good days, memories, and experiences.
• I've added some good memories into my jar. I had a great time with some friends which helped.
• Train for the Chicago Marathon.
• I'm starting to look at training plans. This is daunting for sure!
• Drink more water.
• I was doing really well. Until the end of the month I was drinking a lot of water. I need to keep up on this!
• Workout at least 3x a week.
• I worked out a lot this month. Using my breaks at work to walk around was really helpful. 
• Take a class at the gym at least 1x a week.
• I didn't go to a class at least once a week. I skipped yoga more than once this month, but they were for good reasons. I got to get back in the swing of things with this.
• Write in my 5-Year Journal.
• I completed every day in March! Yay!
• Journal more.
• I wrote twice last month. I need to do better
• Donate to a cause at least 1x a month.
• I donated to 4 charities this month. I'm glad that I can help others who need it.
• See new places.
• I didn't travel anywhere new, but I did go to the Flower and Garden Show. That counts right?
• Read 40 books by the end of 2017.
• I read 7 books in March! It felt good to read more this month. This brought my total at the end of March to 16!

We're only 4 days into April and I'm feeling good about how I'm doing on these goals. Until next time.....

A Look Back On January

I kind of hate resolutions. They're so easy to skip out on and ignore. We've all done it. On New Year's Eve I wrote down a few things I wanted to do for 2017. I figure I should look back on last month and see how I've done.

• Write down good days, memories, experiences.
• I bought a container that I can add in little notes about great things. I add them in regularly. I want to look back at the end of the year to see how my year went.

• Train for the Chicago Marathon.
• This one hasn't begun yet. But I am training for a half right now and missed 1 run due to a snow storm, but made sure to get a walk in that day.

• Drink more water.
• I was really good at keep track of how much water I drank the entire month. I really let this go and could feel the difference. A lot of days I drank more than 20 oz of water. (That's not a ton, but it's better than 0 oz like I was doing before.)

• Workout at least 3x a week.
• I exercised EVERY SINGLE DAY. It varied from day to day, but I got out there and at least walked on my breaks at work or did small work outs at home. 5 minutes is better than 0 minutes!

• Take a class at the gym at least 1x a week.
• The first week of January I was sick, so I didn't go to the gym at all. I did take 5 classes at the gym. I started going to a pilates class on Monday nights and I really enjoy it.

• Write in my 5-Year Journal daily.
• I've been really good about this. I think I might have missed a day and had to fill it in after. This book can be started on any day of the year and asks you one questions a day. You have a few lines and can see how it changes over the next 5 years.

• Journal more.
• I wrote a little bit in my personal journal and once on this blog. I could do better at this for sure.

• Donate to a cause at least once a month.
• I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. When I heard of the Hogwarts Running Club I was pumped! You can participate in virtual runs and they donate most of your registration to charity. They also recommend using Charity Miles to help even more. Their motto is #domoregood. When I signed up for their latest run, $21 went to the Limbs for Life Foundation which is an organization to help get prosthetics to people who would not be able to afford it otherwise.

• See new places.
• There's so many places in Massachusetts I've never seen. I let this option be as small or big as it could be. I traveled to Cold Springs, NY to visit family. I also went to Lynnfield, MA and indulged in some of the North Shore Mall in Peabody, MA for work-related tasks. (See even a mall can be a new place!)

• Read at least 40 books by the end of the year.
• I read 6 books by the end of January. You can see them on this page.

I've done pretty good in January. February I can see where I need to work on already. It's all about progress!

Resolutions? Whatever!

New Years is always about resolutions. You know, the things you're excited about until you actually have to do it. We all do it.

Instead of making some resolution that I know I'll give up on almost immediately. This year I decided to do something I know I'll stick to. Maybe push me, but that I can actually do.

So this year I'm going to do the following:

• Write down positive moments. 
• No matter how small they will seem, just write them down.
• Train for the Chicago Marathon properly.
• I tend to fall off the training wagon and I want to get that out of my system.
• Drink water. 
• I barely drank water the past months, so even one glass is better than nothing. Eventually I want to drink at least 8 glasses, but I'm okay starting small.
• Workout at least 3x a week.
• I need to take care of myself. If I can't give myself even 30 minutes, then I need to prioritize my life.
• Go to one exercise class a week.
• I love to never go to the gym even though I'm paying for it. If I go to a class at least once a week the membership pays for itself. 
• Write more.
• Whether this is here on the blog or in my journal, just write more. 
• I did get a 5-Year Memory Journal that I've been filling out daily. 
• Read 40 books.
• I'll set up a page with what I've been reading.
• Donate to a cause once a month.
• It feels good to help other people. I'm not looking for a lot, but just helping out a cause is nice.
• See new places.
• I'm not specific on new places. It could be a new town, a new part of a town I've been in, a new state, or a new country.

Titles Are Overrated

Running went good today. Or as good as it gets. This is Marathon Weekend in Disney. I'm jealous I'm not there. I'll be there next month so I shouldn't be too jealous.

Emotionally I'm kind of bummed out. Sometimes you get into fights or things don't go as planned. And it gets to the point you don't know how to fix it. That's where I am right now. I'm just trying to get through each day. 

Hoping tomorrow is better.

A Lovely Day Off

Just got home from see Beauty and Beast. It was amazing. If you ever get the chance to see the show, you should! 

They did a great job going from film to stage. And there's a lot of laughs. 

So today I felt good. Just good. It was nice. 

Day 2

Today felt alright. 

I was tired. Not surprising. I was up a little late last night binge watching Grey's Anatomy. 

I felt okay. I don't know how to explain what okay feels like, but you just do. Maybe it's more like content? 

I ate some awesome cheese fries! They were great. Maybe I shouldn't be happy I had such bad food, but I couldn't have wanted anything else.

I'm going to spend my night watch The Martian. I just finished the book a few days ago. I should probably see one of the best movies of 2015 sooner or later.

Speaking of books, I put out a goal on Goodreads to read 36 books in 2016. I wanted to read 24 in 2015 and read more than that. I don't force myself to read certain things, or new books, or whatever.  I let myself read whatever. Maybe it's book I've read 100 times already. Maybe it's history. Or a mystery. Or a love story. Or a graphic novel. I just let myself read.

So I'm currently reading The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (or J.K. Rowling as you may be more familiar with).

Until tomorrow...